WASHINGTON -- Some advocates pressing Congress to block large flood insurance premium increases -- at least temporarily -- are expressing impatience after two bills stalled last week in the House and Senate.

"Personally, I think it's going to take a lot longer than we thought," said George Kasimos, founder of Stop FEMA Now, a national coalition of opponents of large flood insurance premium increases resulting from the so-called 2012 Biggert-Waters flood insurance reform act. Kasimos' New Jersey home flooded during super storm Sandy.

Michael Hecht, president and CEO of Greater New Orleans Inc., who is leading a national coalition working to block unaffordable increases in premiums, is more optimistic. "Such is the legislative process," Hecht said of last week's setbacks in the House and Senate. "The good news is our coalition continues to grow -- 200 organizations from 30 states -- and ultimately, there will be a solution to this national issue."

But not everyone is on board.

SmarterSafer.org, a coalition of insurers, environmental groups and advocates for less government spending, is pressing Congress to resist the pressure from homeowners and to allow FEMA to proceed with implementation of the Biggert-Waters Act, the 2012 law that intended to improve the national flood insurance program's finances. If some people need help with higher premiums, the group recommends targeted mitigation assistance programs and some rate subsidies.

The group carries some clout, particularly from its insurance company members who are big donors to congressional campaigns. In the past week, two influential New Jersey newspapers, the Star-Ledger and Asbury Park Press, ran editorials urging rejection of the delaying legislation sponsored by the state's senior Democratic senator, Robert Menendez. It used some of the same arguments made by SmarterSafer.org.

Last week, House GOP leaders pulled a bill by Rep. Bill Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge, that would have delayed some of the increases through March, 2015 -- six months beyond when the increases are scheduled to start being phased in under the 2012 Biggert-Waters Act.

Cassidy's bill appeared short of the two-thirds margin needed to bring it up under special House rules. It struggled to overcome an unusual group of detractors -- those like members of SmarterSaferorg who don't want to modify Biggert Waters so soon after its 2012 enactment and others who believe the Cassidy proposal didn't go far enough.

In the Senate, a more comprehensive bill, which would delay most of the increases for four years, was brought up under a process that requires "unanimous consent." Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kanas, objected to a quick vote, saying he was doing so at the request of Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho., the top Republican on the Senate Banking Committee.

Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., is planning to bring the proposal up again, likely in the next several days, hoping this time no Republican will object.

Kasimos of Stop FEMA Now said the problem facing lawmakers trying to delay the insurance premium increases is opposition from some fiscally conservative Republicans -- and he put himself in that category. "I agree we should be fiscally responsible," he said. "Some of them are saying this is welfare -- that it will help people with million-dollar beachfront homes. But the problem with that argument is there aren't any in Louisiana."

Kasimos worries that Republicans who want to help Cassidy in his 2014 Senate run against Landrieu by ensuring he gets the credit for delaying premium increases, just as Democrats want to help Landrieu with her re-election prospects, might be working at cross purposes.

"I personally don't care who wins the Senate race. I just want them to save our homes," said Kasimos, who contends that the fiscal problems with the flood insurance program have been exaggerated.

The main complaints about the Cassidy bill are that the delay of some rate increases is only through March 2015, about six months after the increase for grandfathered properties are supposed to begin being phased in. Moreover, the bill doesn't deal with a section of the 2012 flood insurance law that ends subsidies for homes once they are sold -- causing immediate and substantial increases for many properties and making some of them unsellable.

Landrieu, leading the charge in the Senate for the delaying legislation, said the "time out" is needed so FEMA can complete an affordability study and determine steps that can be taken to ensure that people don't lose their homes because of unaffordable premiums. The four-year delay, she said, is needed for FEMA to complete an affordability study and work with Congress on steps needed to keep flood insurance rates within the reach of homeowners.

Cassidy's spokesman John Cummins defended the approach in the House. "We are working very hard to
provide meaningful relief for the people of Louisiana as well as the entire
country," Cummins said. "This bill would help
400,000 Louisiana families, 115,000 people in New York, almost 2 million in
Florida; the numbers speak for themselves. Good policy is good politics and
this is good policy. We have always said this is a multi-step process and this
is a big step forward toward bringing relief to people across the
country."

Rep. Steve Scalise, R-Jefferson, said that bill might be as much as can be achieved in the House, for now.

But Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-New Orleans, promises a real push early next year to get the House to consider legislation delaying the premium increases for four years, rather than the more limited Cassidy proposal.

"When Congress reconvenes in January, there will be options for moving legislation to roll back flood insurance increases," Richmond said. "The good news is that members are continuing to rally around our bicameral, bipartisan fix to this crisis -- H.R. 3370, the Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act-- which now has 170 cosponsors."